Carolina - H.S.

"What are we?" (4)

Hailey's POV

After laying in my bed all morning, staring at the ceiling, I come to the conclusion that I owe it to Harry to tell him how I feel and why I can't be with him. If that is even what he wants. I'm still not completely sure. I pick up my phone from the cluttered bedside table, type in my password, and make a note that it is still quite early so he may not answer. I quickly press the call button before I can talk myself out of it and bring it up to my ear.

As I wait for him to pick up, I pick at my cuticles, one of my many nervous habits. On the fourth ring, I deduce that he isn't going to pick up. Taking the phone away from my ear slightly, I hear a deep grunt, followed by a tired and sexy "Hello?", which makes me sit up further on my mattress and push a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"Erm, hi. It's Hailey." I stutter out, probably making myself sound like an idiot.

I hear some shuffling on the other end of the line and a few other noises I decipher to be him struggling to get out of bed. After a few seconds, he clears his throat, "Hailey, I didn't expect you to call me so soon. Have you already made up your mind?" His morning voice is heavenly, even over the phone, and I nearly melt onto the floor right as it hits my eardrums. I almost start to regret my decision of rejecting him, which was why I had called in the first place. But then I remember that my career comes first, and even though dating him could help my fame, that is not what I want to be known for.

I've only ever been in a relationship with one other person before. Her name was Maddie, and if I'm being honest it ended quite badly. I'm not still hung up on her or anything, I'm just scared of being hurt again.

I take a deep breath, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but knowing that I am making the right choice for me.

"I can't be with you. I'm sorry." I blurt out, not even bothering to try and soften the blow. I mean, I really don't think it matters very much to him anyway.

After about a minute, he sighs heavily, "But I still want to see you." I can hear his pout through the phone, my heart silently breaking. Why does this have to be so hard? I should have just never called him.

I think about what he's saying wondering what he means by that exactly. "If we aren't together, but you still want to see me, then what are we?" My question seems pretty reasonable to me. He's like every other rich celebrity I have met, he just wants to fuck. This world is awful. And so are the people in it.

Waiting for him to reply I stand up from my bed and walk into the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. I open the lid. Bringing the bottle up to my lips I hear him say, "Friends?" His response surprises me and I am sure that I heard him wrong. He just wants to be friends? I thought he just wanted me for sex.

"Friends?" I question, very skeptical about his reasoning for wanting to get to know me.

My hand is still grasping the bottle in mid-air, but I'm too stunned to take a sip while I wait for his next words impatiently. "Yes, friends. If that's alright with you."

Trying my best to conceal my skepticism, I tell him, "Fine." We'll see how that goes.

Harry and I have been 'friends' for about a week now. And if I'm being honest, it hasn't been half as bad as I thought it would be. Over this past week, we have gone shopping around the streets of LA, whilst he took me on a tour of the city; a different place every few days. We couldn't go out every day, considering we both have quite busy jobs.

We went to a park and bought ice cream at a small shop nearby, we walked to an art museum just down the street from my apartment and strolled on the Santa Monica pier. Harry has the kindest soul. He has been treating me so well all week, I shouldn't have been so quick to judge him. I guess I should have expected that since he's all about treating people with kindness. In any case, he is a very pleasant change from the celebrities I have made the company of so far.